No Matter How I Look at it, it's You Guys' Fault I'm Single Over Break
by MythicFortune
Summary: Second term has ended, and Kuroki Tomoko remains an unpopular girl. As winter break begins, she receives a call from her friend Naruse Yuu to spend time at her house. But what happens when adverse weather keeps her there?


Lament One: Since I'm Not Popular, I'll Visit My Friend

Tomoko sighed as she stared out the window. Winter break had only begun the day before, and already she was bored. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Tomoki pulling on his coat to brace against the cold and snow outside. She idly remembered him making a comment a few weeks prior to the effect that he had found a girlfriend, and how, after absconding to her own room, her rage exploded at how he had succeeded where she had failed.

"I'm off," Tomoki said, just barely loud enough to seem like he really cared if anyone knew he was leaving.

Tomoko shivered involuntarily as she was hit by the cold air when he opened the door. "Return safely," Tomoko replied half-heartedly. _Traitor,_ she silently added. She was positive he was going to spend time with his girlfriend, and was at least grateful for not having to see him and be reminded that when it came to social lives, he was winning.

Tomoko likely would had simply continued to sit there, had her phone not begun ringing. She fished it out of her pocket and saw that it was Yuu. She wasn't terribly surprised, as there were exactly four contacts in her phone, and neither her brother nor her parents were likely to call her. "Hello, Yuu-chan."

"Mokocchi, are you free right now?"

"Yeah."

"Want to come over? I've got nothing to do right now."

Tomoko was a little surprised. She had thought that, should Yuu get bored during break, she would have called her boyfriend. Shrugging it off, she responded "Sure. I'll be over soon."

"Alright. Bye, Mokocchi."

"Bye." With that, Tomoko hung up, and returned to her room to change into something more fitting for going out into cold weather. Once she'd donned something suitable for winter, as opposed to the light t-shirt she'd been wearing due to a lack of plans to go outside, she grabbed her house keys, a deck from a certain children's card game, and her coat, before returning to the living room and slipping on her shoes. "I'm off," she called out, and just barely heard a stammered "return safely" from her mother upstairs, most likely surprised that Tomoko was leaving the house.

Not long after, Tomoko stood at the outer gate to Yuu's house and pressed the doorbell button. Behind the drawn curtains, she saw a silhouette perk up, before rushing out of view, and a moment later Yuu opened the door and walked up to Tomoko. "Come on in, Mokocchi," she said, gesturing to follow her.

"Pardon the intrusion," Tomoko said, as she slipped her shoes off and put them together, heels against the wall and her right shoe against Yuu's left. She noted that they were already in place, and then glanced over to Yuu's feet. Sure enough, she wore a pair of socks, which had recently taken on water from walking through the snow. "Uh, Yuu-chan…"

"Eh?" She then noticed how her feet were rapidly growing cold. "Oh, right." She bent over and pulled her socks off, before brushing some stray lint off of her feet. "I was in such a rush, I forgot about shoes." Yuu smiled, and Tomoko returned it. "My parents are going to be away for a while, so we've got the house to ourselves."

Tomoko shrugged off her coat, and the two made their way to Yuu's living room and sat down on the couch, Tomoko tossing her coat onto a nearby chair. "So, what do you want to do?" Tomoko asked, thinking Yuu must have had some sort of plan.

"Want to watch a movie?" She asked, which was met with a shrug and a nod. Yuu stood up and walked over to where a collection of movies were set. "Any genre preferences?"

"No."

"Okay." Yuu selected a movie and random and put it into the player, before taking a seat next to Tomoko as the main menu popped up. Yuu grabbed the player's remote off of the couch's armrest and hit the play movie option.

Tomoko tried to focus on the movie, but couldn't help but notice that Yuu was giving off an air that suggested she really wanted to say something. Wanting to know, she decided to ask. "Yuu-chan, what's wrong?"

For a barely perceptible moment, Tomoko was sure she saw relief wash over Yuu's face at not having to bring it up herself, before she paused the movie and took a steadying breath. Turning to face Tomoko, Yuu said "I broke up with my boyfriend."

Surprise was written plainly on Tomoko's face. "Why?"

"It turns out, I wasn't his only girlfriend. There were three others. They wanted me there when they all called him out together, but…"

Tomoko nodded in understanding. She knew that Yuu wasn't the kind to do that, no matter how justified she'd be. As far as Tomoko was concerned, she might be a high school bitch, but she was a nice high school bitch. "So, are you all right? That can't have been easy to learn."

Yuu took a deep breath. "I will be." Sensing that the conversation was over, Yuu resumed the movie, actually able to enjoy it having gotten that off her chest. Tomoko, on the other hand, wasn't able to focus on it at all. While part of her was glad that this narrowed the gap between the two of them, Yuu still lived a much more social life than Tomoko did, something that she wanted to change.

XXXX

When the movie ended, Yuu turned to Tomoko. "What did you think?"

"Eh? Oh, er…" she tried to think of a way to tell Yuu that she hadn't really been paying attention, having been more preoccupied with her thoughts. Her hesitation betrayed her, though.

"You weren't watching, were you?"

"Sorry."

Yuu briefly closed her eyes and took a small breath. "Don't worry about it. It's my fault for picking something that didn't interest you."

That may not have been the case, but Tomoko was in no hurry to correct her. She cast her eyes about the room while thinking of what to suggest they do next, when her gaze fell on the window. "Wow, it's really coming down outside."

"Huh?" Yuu moved to look out the window as well. "You're right." Outside, snow, driven by wind, was falling at a rapid rate, accumulating visibly, albeit a bit slowly.

"Maybe we should-"

"Already on it." Yuu turned off the DVD player and turned the TV to the weather report.

"-heavy snowfall with possibility of freezing rain predicted over the next forty-eight hours. If you do not need to go outside, do not," the anchor reported.

Tomoko sighed. "We're stuck, then."

Yuu nodded. "Seems that way."

Next Time: Since I'm Not Popular, It's Snowing Really Hard

**A.N.**: So there's the first chapter. Please review and tell me how to improve. Also, am I spelling Yuu's nickname for Tomoko right? I'm pretty sure I'm not.


End file.
